


And hide me from the hostile light

by bookoftheazuresky



Series: star followed star [11]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Past Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Rejected Apologies, Unhealthy Relationships, attempted apologies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-30 17:14:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17832755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookoftheazuresky/pseuds/bookoftheazuresky
Summary: Megatron attempts an apology to one he has wronged. Sunstorm is still not the person he is speaking to.





	And hide me from the hostile light

“You don’t _have_ to do this,” Rodimus said. It would have sounded better without the undertone of petulance.

Sunstorm debated telling the flashy Autobot something along the lines of _no, I certainly do not have to, and you would not be able to make me_. He didn’t, because he was trying to play nicely. It was hard. Sunstorm was a quarter of Rodimus’ age, and he _still_ felt old in comparison.

“Maybe I am going to gloat,” Sunstorm suggested lightly instead.

Rodimus’ misgivings immediately disappeared. “Oh, _that’s_ okay. I just don’t think he deserves to get what he wants after all of this.” A golden hand swept in a gesture that encompassed all of Cybertron.

“I completely and totally agree with you. Consider, however,” Sunstorm said, “the vindication you and I would both feel if he begged me for his life and showed himself for the self-serving fraud he is.” His smile was possibly a little too sharp.

“Point taken.” Mood considerably improved, Rodimus keyed open the door and waved Sunstorm in.

~

Rodimus couldn’t seem to decide if he wanted to lead the way or trail Sunstorm to the holding cell. He was actually a quite sensible choice to put up against Sunstorm; as a firestarter himself, the speedster would be nearly immune to anything the seeker could throw at him. Though not, of course, seeker claws.

Sunstorm disliked the precedent of allowing a Decepticon- no matter how personally hated- to be tried under the Autobot Code. If it was accepted once, it would be again. However, with Megatron professing his change in faction and consent to the trial, Sunstorm had acquiesced. Interfering with the trial of an avowed Autobot wasn’t something the fragile truce between the factions could afford right now.

Honestly, his preference would have been to try Megatron for murder. Either under the Decepticon Articles or, as Nova Storm had suggested, the original Compact of the Primes, which was technically neither Autobot nor Decepticon law, but had been the basis of the original legal codes of all the Cybertronian citystates and had never been repealed. He could name quite a few Decepticons off the top of his processor that hadn’t received the proper procedural formalities before execution at Megatron’s hands, his predecessor included. A double-handful of murder charges and an execution to follow sounded like the perfect way to end Megatron’s existence: anticlimactically.

(Prowl had unsubtly suggested that the whole Decepticon High Command be put on trial. Sunstorm had sweetly informed him that he would happily acquiesce provided the Autobots did so as well. It wasn’t as if he cared what happened to Soundwave at this point, Shockwave and Turmoil were dead, there hadn’t been a Decepticon CMO since the early war, and Sunstorm was barely twelve thousand vorns old. He’d then, even more sweetly, suggested that Ion Storm and Bitstream provide the tribunal with admissible evidence regarding Prowl’s contributions to the war effort. The Autobot hadn’t pursued the suggestion any further.)

Rodimus stopped just out of sight of the cell and fidgeted. “I-“ he started.

“Do not strain something, I could not care less if you watch,” Sunstorm informed him, guessing that was what had the mech’s spoiler in a twist. Surveillance was only sensible; in their position he would have done the same.

“Just don’t let him out,” Rodimus said, visibly relieved.

Not dignifying that with a reply, Sunstorm walked towards the only active set of energon bars in the whole block.

Back to a tank alt and his usual colors, Megatron sat on the hard berth attached to the cell wall. He looked almost meek, though not like the Autobots had been subjecting him to daily beatings or starvation or the like. The red brand on his chest was absolutely surreal.

Considering he had nothing to prove now that he had slapped Megatron down _twice_ , Sunstorm started. “I wonder what you think calling me down here will achieve.”

The mech got to his feet and came to face him through the cell bars. “Sunstorm.” After a moment, he said, “Congratulations on your victory in the elections.”

“Oh, yes, such a victory when Metalhawk is in a CR chamber and Shockwave’s little break with reality did who-knows-what with the Autobot candidate.” He’d expected another Autobot to step up into Bumblebee’s place rather than let a Decepticon have control of Cybertron, but no one had. Well, expecting Autobots to be _proactive_ about fixing problems was probably his mistake. The Neutrals weren’t best pleased by the outcome, but none of their replacement candidates had managed to pull a lot of support. Which left Sunstorm, who now commanded the biggest portion of the Decepticon faction, especially after the rest of high command went _absolutely insane._

A Decepticon compromise candidate. Would wonders never cease.

“But I do not trust anyone else to do it right,” Sunstorm finished. “ _I_ have standards.” He emphasized the pronoun very deliberately. Maybe it was something in Earth’s atmosphere, but the officers of both factions seemed to think that now was a _lovely_ time for a rationality center breakdown. Leaving Sunstorm to deal with it. Business as usual.

“I really don’t know you at all, do I?” Megatron asked, almost pensively.

“I am, as ever, what my lord has made of me.” Sunstorm gave him an ugly smile. There was something terribly freeing in allowing his glossa free rein. He didn’t have a damn thing to prove to Megatron; he’d taken the faction the mech had founded and reduced him to a wreck not once but twice, a singular record across four million years of strife. “You wished for a second who hated you. Congratulations on your success.”

“You have greatly exceeded my expectations, that much is true.” In Sunstorm’s experience, it was uncommon to hear Megatron so subdued. Certainly the mech had spent most of the deployment on Earth some flavor of angry at him. Though Sunstorm actually found that understandable, because he’d spent most of it flagrantly disobeying stupid orders and terrifying the Decepticon ground forces into submission in preparation for wrenching the Decepticon leadership out of Megatron’s grip.

“Such high praise! I would almost be flattered, but I know what your ‘expectations’ were.” Like Sunstorm needed or wanted approval at this late date. “Besides, the compliments of a genocidal maniac and _failure_ are without worth.”

“No, I suppose they aren’t,” Megatron conceded. Which was shocking- Sunstorm didn’t manage to control the surprised flick of his wings. “I realize now that what I did to you was unspeakably wrong. I preached against the exploitation of cold-constructed mechs, and yet I used you in the worst way possible for my own gratification. And when you rightly removed yourself from the situation, I disregarded your autonomy and pursued you regardless of your clearly expressed wishes. You were completely undeserving of everything I did to you, and I am completely to blame for your hatred. I am…” he paused, “very sorry for what I have done to you.”

Sunstorm stared for a long moment. He could barely comprehend the words. An apology? He replayed the memory files. This was what Megatron had asked him down here for?

…he didn’t like it. ‘Exploitation of cold-constructed’? ‘Disregarded your autonomy’? Yes, Sunstorm hated him for both of those things, but Megatron had turned them thin and pale on the glossa. Megatron had _raped_ him, turned him into a punching bag, punished any sign of Sunstorm’s individuality, groomed him as a weapon. He’d made the most important people in Sunstorm’s life complicit in his abuse. He’d tried to hold Sunstorm’s subordinates hostage for good behavior and made Sunstorm defend his personal boundaries with physical violence- Sunstorm could _still_ barely stand to have mechs besides Thundercracker and Skywarp touching him. And that was just on a personal level; their professional relationship had been, in some ways, even worse.

“Well. I am sure I’ve received worse apologies in my functioning, but I cannot recall any of them right now.” Sunstorm paused a moment as if in thought, then continued, “Wait, there was that time that Overlord apologized for ripping my wing off. You still haven’t quite managed _that_ level of insincere and inadequate. Perhaps you would like to try again.”

“Starscream,” Megatron grated, realizing his mistake the second the wrong designation came off his glossa.

“ _I am not Starscream_ ,” Sunstorm hissed. He leaned forward slightly, voice low and forceful. “You killed him for disagreeing with you, remember? _I_ am just the weapon you replaced him with. You will not, _ever_ , be able to apologize to him, because he is _dead_ , and _I am not him_!” Sunstorm clamped down on his temper before he started throwing radiation all over the place and forced his spinal strut straight again. Now he just felt tired.

“I don’t know what I was expecting,” he said, more to himself than to Megatron. Closure, maybe? He supposed it didn’t matter. Considering that Megatron was still, after all this time, regretting Sunstorm’s predecessor, Sunstorm couldn’t have offered him forgiveness even had he wanted to. Even if Megatron had gotten on his knees and said exactly the right words (Sunstorm didn’t know what they were, but presumably they existed) and been completely sincere and repentant, Sunstorm found he had no desire to offer any kind of absolution.

“Be silent,” Sunstorm snapped as Megatron opened his mouth once again. The warlord had the grace to obey, expression almost stricken. “There is nothing you can say to me that will convince me not to testify. I will be on that stand, and I will _start_ with you ordering me into your berth the first time you saw me, and Primus willing I will _end_ with signing off on your execution at the end of the proceedings.” A glance at the cell controls to make sure that everything was in order, and Sunstorm turned on his heel and stalked out.

**Author's Note:**

> Some time back, I read a tumblr post saying that “only you can do justice to your own ideas.” That post is the reason why I continued with star followed star even though my original plans only included 5-6 stories as opposed to 11. Good grief, this thing really grew in the telling. I cannot believe I wrote all of this in a little over 2 months.
> 
> I still have ideas for this ‘verse, even though what I think of as the ‘backstory arc’ is complete. So I will not be marking the series as complete just yet.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has given this a try and stuck with me even though I killed off Starscream in literally the first story. Sometimes it’s the bad endings and what comes next that are the most interesting to explore.


End file.
